Intermittent drive device



March 15, 1960 F. A. WALLS 2,928,284

INTERMITTENT DRIIVE DEVICE Filed A ril 1. 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 IINVENTOR. flaa cricK 14 \n/w LLs March 15, 1960 F. A. WALLS 2,928,284

INTERMITTENT DRIVE DEVICE Filed April 1. 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 March 15,1960 F. A..wALL$' 2,928,284

INTERMITTENT DRIVE DEVICE Filed April 1. 1957 v 4 Speets-Sheet 3 I 0 I L2 g o 0 1 o I F O L l E 10 1 1s F. A. WALLS INTERMITTENT DRIVE DEV-ICEMarch 15, 1960 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed April 1. 1957 i pile of books andso on. requires the expenditure of'considerable energy by theINTERMITTENT DEVICE 5 Claims. or. 74-21 In the field of graphic art andof book-binding, the so-called trilateral (three-sided) machine s' arewellknown. Such machines, as their name indicates, serve to cut or trimpiles of books or reams of paper and the like on threesides. In thisrespect, the back of thebook or ream is stitched or glued and, prior toapplying the cover, it is necessary to trim or cut the three sides ofthe pile. 0

Such machines have three knives, one front blade and two side blades,which are moved with independent movements. In other words, the usualpractice in the art recommends that the trimming at the sides should becarried out first and, then, the front trimming. This re "quirernentobviously stems from'the fact that, if front trimming were carried outfirst, the pile or ream might become misaligned and the operator wouldbe compelled to square the ream a-gain prior to carrying out the'sidefinishing. l

For the reasons now set'forth, modern trilateral machines are providedwith a synchronizing device permitting the descent and return of theside bladesand, then,

the descent and return of the front blade.

Such machines are always equipped, moreover, with a paper-pressingdevice that descends'with a slight advance with respect tothe descent ofthe side blades and.

serves the purpose of keeping the .pile or ream com-' pressed duringcutting.

A carriage, which .18

-..pile.'of books, waitsfor the cutting to have been comslidable on aninclined bench, I carries the pile or ream to be trimmed. When thejcarriage has taken the pile or ream to the cutting position,

United States Patent ce Patented Mar. 15, 1960 2 L a in of p e on o thecarr a e; (b) Feed travel of the carriage; (0) Cutting proper; (d)Discharge of cut pile; (e) Return travel of the carriage.

The introduction of the pile isthe operation that determines the releaseof movement of the cutting membegs.

' Thus, it is evident that the frequency of cutting passes pletedandreturns the carriageback to receive the new It is evident that-suchwork operator. For a further understanding of the operation,

the normal working cycle of such conventional machines maybe brieflysummarized .as .-follows:

The operator loads the pile of books on the carriage and pushes thecarriage by hand as.far as the cutting ,position at thispoint,-theiearriageireleases a spring mechanism which in turn releasesmovement of the paperpressing device and of the side blades. Thus, theside trimming of the pile is obtained; ,-On termination of thistrimimng, theside blades riseto return to their upper .dead pointand,cometoastandstill, and thelfront blade becomes operative.

On having carried out the cutting, the front'blade rises, returns backto its upper dead point ,and stops.

The blades do not function ,againuntilthecarriage return at its end oftravel for the introduction of another :Hence, the cutting of apilecomprises the following stages.

' lines B-'-B' of Fig. 1 and showingpart of the and, therefore, theproduction of trimmed piles in determined interval of time, depend onthe frequency w th which the operator loads the machine. Asaforestatedli t is almost impossible for an operator to exert a tinnal'efioirt' beyond certain limits. In' acltual pract ee, itliardlypossible for an operator to trim more" than or seven piles perminute. J I From the foregoing, it will be seen that there are coneventional trilatcr'al machines which are equipped devices for actuatingbladesin a synchronized man with the arrival of the carriage at thefeed-end tr e1 position. However, the feed movement of the carri go andits return travel for receiving a new pile areeifec manually. I It is amain object of the present invention to provide a mechanism capable ofreplacing the operator tora'utomatically carrying out the feed stage ofthe pile-carry ng carriage and the return travel of said carriage, ta nginto account the intervals of time neededflto load th I'e at one side,to trim and to unload'the finished pile other side. i

t is another object of the present invention to provide a mechanismadapted to provide ajfeed pathjfor a carig; hich is slidably movable onguides, toenable of said carriage during a certain predeter ed of time,to provide a return' mov em"ent of and to enable halting of saidcarriageduring predetermined interval of time, whic maybe differentfrornthe "first halting time duration, andto'repeat cyclicallytheoperations just recited, any number of timesfatwil l. It is anotherobject of the present invention to provide It 'is a further ObJCll ofthe present inventiontop 'oyide a mechanism to be applied ontrilateralcuttingjmaehiries for trimming paper'in books, blocks orreams; the in 'hanisrn being capable of forwarding tl ecarriage ca yingthe pile'to be trimmed to the position of'cutting, ofjk eping it thereduring the cutting operation, of returnin he carriage when the cuttinghas been terminated bythe operator to load'another pile onto the canThese and other objects of the present invention appear evident from theparticular description *that lows hereinafter with reference to theaccomp" drawings, wherein: i

Fig.1 represents a longitudinal section of the case containing themechanism of theinvention;

Pi 2 is a representation partly in s'ectiontaken along ris tion partlyin elevation;

I Fig. 3 shows how the movement of the mecha "g m age With reference tothe drawings, now 'therewilFbe described the device of the invention initsparticillars.

' An electric motor is provided'for transmitting} movement to a pulley,as shown'in Fig.1, by' inea f belts. A ge ar is connected to the pulleyand thioiggh-a clutch means and a suitablegearing'arrangem tAS ofkeeping the carriageat Standstill'during the timene transmits rotarymovement to the shaft 31 which parallels the shaft 40. The shaft 31 isdisposed parallel with the shaft 5. Fixed on the shaft 31 is the plate27, the sector gear 26 and the sector disk 25. Fixed on the shaft arethe star plate 24, the sector gear 23 on one side and the disk 4 withthe button on the other side.

By virtue of such arrangement, the continuous rotary movement of theshaft 31 is translated into a movement of intermittent rotation by theshaft 5, the shaft 5 having its rotation interrupted by two haltingperiods. In other words, the button 10 is provided to travel in an arcof 180, to stop for a short period, and then travel over another arc of180 and stop for a period of longer than that of the preceding stop.This operation is repeated .cyclically.

. The device providing the succession of movements of the pile-carryingcarriage according to the object of the present invention, will beeasily understood with particular reference to Fig. 2. With the shaft31, as said, there are rigid the shaped plate 27, the sector gear 26 andthe sector disk 25. Parallel and above with respect to the shaft 31there is the shaft 5, Whereon there are fixed the star plate 24, and thesector gear 23 on one side, and the disk 4 with button 10 on the otherside. The kinematical problem to be solved is to transform thecontinuous rotary movement of shaft 31 into a movement of rotationinterrupted by two halting periods of the shaft 5: in other words, thebutton 10 is wanted to travel over an arc of 180, to stop for a shortperiod, to travel over another arc of 180, to stop for a period longerthan that of the preceding halt, and so on repeating these operationscyclically.

On observing more particularly the shaped plate 27, it will be notedthat it is composed of two parts or wings of sector shape equal to eachother and the axes of symmetry whereof are radial with respect to thecenter of the shaft 31 and form an obtuse angle. From Fig. 2 it will benoted also that on the ends of each of the two arcs of the plate 27there are fixed two studs. In Fig. 2 the studs are designated with 28,28', 28", 28", according to the order with which they follow one anotherin plate rotation.

For a more particular understanding of operations, let us suppose thatthe plate 27 turns in clockwise sense with respect to an observerobserving the mechanism in the directions of the arrow C of Fig. 1.

The star plate 24 then will turn in an anti-clockwise sense as will beexplained hereinafter; the curved arrows in Fig. 2 represent themovement mentioned just now.

Operation of the mechanism is as follows:

The stud 28 penetrates into the first eyelet of the plate 24 and pushesit in rotation. As soon as the stud 28 is going to leave the firsteyelet, and this takes place when the stud 28 has surpassed in itstravel the axial line that connects the centres of the shafts 5 and 31,the first toothed sector rigid with the wheel 25 engages with 'thecorresponding toothed sector 23 rigid with the plate 24 which continuesrotating. When the teeth of the toothed sectors are going to disengage,the stud 28 pene' trates into the second eyelet of the plate 24 andpushes it to complete the rotation of plate 24 by 180. From what hasbeen stated hereinbefore, a rotation of the star plate by 180 isobtained according to the following succession of movements:

(a) Entrance of a stud (28) into an eyelet of the plate 24, with startof rotation of the plate 24;

(b) Exit of the stud (28) from the eyelet, engagement between thetoothed sectors respectively rigid with the plate 27 and with the plate24;

(0) Termination of engagement between the toothed sectors mentionedabove under (b) and entrance of the subsequent stud (28) into thesubsequent eyelet of the plate 24 until completion of the rotation by180.

On inspecting again Fig. 2, it will be seen that the free arcsbetweenthe two wings of the plate 27 are occupied by the sectors H and K havingsmooth borders and it will also be noted that sector H is narrower thansector K.

These sectors H and K are integral with the sector disc 25 which as saidis fixed to the shaft 31 coaxially with respect to the shaped plate 27and to the sector gear 26. Attention is called here to the fact that theradius of curvature of the sectors H and K coincides With the radii ofcurvature of the curved portions of the star plate 24. There is a slightphase shift between the end of the' rotation by of the plate 24 and thebeginning of the contact of the sector H with the corresponding curvedportion of the plate 24. The length of time during which the sector Hfinds itself at contact with the corresponding curved portion of theplate 24, represents the halt of the pile-carrying carriage under theblades for trimming. Once the sector H has left the curved portion ofthe plate 24 mentioned above, the second wing of the shaped plate 27comes to act, which carries the studs 28" and 28' and under which isplaced a toothed sector equal to that provided under the first wingcarrying the studs 28 and 28'. Now the succession of movements asalready described is repeated, there is a new rotation by 180 of theplate 24, until the sector K comes to find itself at contact with thecorresponding curved portion on the plate 24. The length of time duringwhich the sector K is at contact with the corresponding curved portionon the plate 24, represents the haltlonger than the one corresponding tothe sector H-for loading the pile of books on the carriage.

Summarizing the above, the correspondence between the movements of themechanism described and the movement of the pile-carrying carriage canbe stated to be as follows:

(A) Rotation by 180 of the star plate 24, which corresponds to the feedtravel of the pile-carrying carriage;

(B) Contact of the sector H with the curved portion of the star plate24, which corresponds to the halt of the carriage for enabling to efiecttrimming and discharge of the trimmed pile;

(C) Subsequent rotation by 180 of the star plate 24, which correspondsto the return travel of the discharged carriage;

(D) Contact of the sector K with the curved portion of the star plate24, which corresponds to the halt of the carriage for loading thereon anew pile of books to be trimmed.

It may be added that the continuous rotation of the shaft 31 ensures thecyclic repetition at will of the operations A-B-C-D, in the order ofsuccession hereinbefore specified.

Means is then provided for transforming the continuous movement of arotary shaft into a composite rotary movement, formed by a rotation by180, a short halt, a second rotation by 180 and a longer halt, of asecond shaft.

Now the composite rotary movement has to be translated into thesuccession of movements required for the pile-carrying carriage, namely:

(1) Feed travel of the loaded carriage;

(2) Halt for cutting and unloading of the trimmed pile;

(3) Return travel of the empty carriage;

(4) Halt for loading a new pile on the carriage.

To understand how the succession of the movements as set forth isobtained in practice, particular reference is made to Fig. 3. In thatfigure the pile-carrying carriage is visible, which has not beenrepresented in the preceding figures.

The carriage is slidably mounted on guide and whereon it can slide: itwill be noted from Fig. 3 that the carriage is inclined with respect tothe horizontal. At the end of the carriage C nearest to the operator,that is, to the right hand of him who observes Fig. 3, there is pivotedat 18 the upper end of an Oscillating arm 16.

The lower end of said arm .1. i p dothe-small 7 adjustable. connectingrod. 20' an t l e is pi o d to the support 100. a r

p The crankpin 10 is pivoted on a small adjustable con necting rod. 12and the latter in turn is pivoted 'on the Oscillating arm 16 at a point,15, The crankpin 10 in its rotation drags along with it the arm 16. Ithas been seen that by virtue of the. mechanism represented in Fig. 2,the crankpin 10 achieves two rotations by 180 intermeaning' by pauses:the same will happen now withthe carriage C since the arm 16 inoscillating also will drag along with it the carriage. Hence the latterwill perform the feed travel, halt for the time necessary for cuttingand unloading the trimmed pile, perform the return travel, halt for thetime necessary for'loading the new pile to be. trimmed, and so on. Nowwith particular reference to Fig. 4, the braking device will bedescribed that serves .to rendereasier the movement of the shaft whereonthe star plate 24 is mounted,

, It is desirable, in order to obtain a more regular'movement of theshaft 5, to have the possibility of braking said shaft a short timebefore the sectors H and K of the disc 26 come to contact thecorresponding curved portions of the star plate 24: meeting thisrequirement means avoiding shocks and vibrations as would be unavoidablycaused otherwise, when the sectors H and K come to act, by the stoppingof the star plate 24.

The requirement mentioned above is met by the device as represented inFig. 4 and visible also in Fig. 1. l

About the pin 114 there is mounted the shoe brake 112: the free end ofthe lever of said brake being COl'l'! trolled by the cam 117 Said cam ismounted on the shaft 31 and as is seen in Fig. .4, it provides twobraking stages and two positions of disengagement: the duration of thestages of braking corresponding to the halting time wanted. To the leverof the brake 112 there is pivoted at 116 a tension rod 118 which isguided by the stirrup 115. The spring 118 is fitted over the tie rod 118and rests at one end against the stirrup 115 and at its other endagainst a nut screwed onto the free threaded end of the tie' rod 118. Itis thus possible to adjust the tension of the spring at will.

The brake shoe 113 acts upon the grooved pulley 109 fitted on the shaft5. i

I claim: a

1. A mechanism for automatically controlling the introduction anddischarge of paper piles in a trilateral cutting machine comprising areciprocating carriage adapted to support the paper piles, anintermittently rotating operating means, means operatively connectingthe intermittently rotating operating means with the carriage totranslate such intermittent rotation into intermittent reciprocatorymovement of the carriage, a continuously rotating driving means andmeans connecting the continuously rotating driving means to theintermittently rotating operating means so as to produce theintermittent rotation thereof, said continuously rotating driving meansincluding a rotating drive shaft, said intermittently rotating operatingmeans including a driven shaft parallel to the drive shaft and saidconnecting meansincluding a plate circumposed on the driving shaft andformed of two sectors arranged at an obtuse angle relative to eachother, said sectors having arcu-ate peripheral portions provided withteeth, a stud provided at the end of each peripheral portion andextending laterally from the sectors, a disc circumposed on the driveshaft and arranged coaxially with and fixed to the'plate and having twosmooth sectors arranged in the spaces between and on the same radiuswith the toothed portions of the sectors, a star plate circumposed onthe driven shaft and having two pairs of spaced side by side eyelets onits periphery for engagement with the studs and having a curved sec tionbetween the eyelets of each pair and a rectangular portion between eacheyelet of one pair and each eyelet of the other paira'nd a disccircumposed on the driven movement is transmitted from the driving shaftto the driven shaft at first by means ofthe entrance of a stud of theplate into one eyelet of the star plate, to put it to rotation, then themovement is continued, when the stud leaves the eyelet, by theengagement of the corresponding toothed sectors of the plate and thestar plate, then a second stud of the plate enters into a second eyeletof the star plate as seen as the toothed sectors disengage, so that arotation by of the star plate is achieved, whereafter one of the smoothsectors of the disc rigid with the plate slides in'contact with onecurved section of the star plate comprised between the two eyelets ofone pa until the st u of e bs q ent ec o zQne enters into thecorresponding eyelet of the star plate, putting it to rotation again,the movement of the star plate being resumed with the engagement of twocorresponding toothed sectors, then the second stud of said subsequentsector zone of the shaped plate enters into the eyelet of the star plateas soon as the toothed sectors disengage, thus obtaining a secondrotation by 180 of the star plate as soon as the toothed sectorsdisengage, disc rigid with the plate slides in contact with the othercurved section of the star plate, whereby there is obtained a movementof the star plate and, therefore, of the driven shaft, which isconstituted by a rotation by 180, a short halt, a second rotation by 180and a longer halt, said movement being repeated cyclically by therotation of the driving shaft. 7

- 2. A mechanism for automatlcally controlling the intating operatingmeans so as to produce the intermittent rotation thereof, saidcontinuously rotating driving means including a rotating drive shaft,said intermittently rotating operating means including adriven shaftparallel I to the drive shaft and said connecting means including aplate circumposed on the driving shaft and formed of two sectorsarranged at an obtuse angle relative to each other, said sectors havingarcuate peripheral portions provided with teeth, a stud provided at theend of each peripheral portion and extending laterally from the sectors,a disc circumposed on the drive shaft and arranged coaxially with andfixed to the plate and having two smooth sectors arranged in the spacesbetween and on the same radius with the toothed portions of the sectors,a star plate circumposed on the driven shaft and having two pairs ofspaced side by side eyelets on its periphery for engagement with thestuds and having a curved section between the eyelets of each pair and arectangular portion between each eyelet of one pair and each eyelet ofthe other pair and a disc circumposed on the driven shaft and arrangedcoaxially with and fixed to thestar plate and having two toothed sectorswhich project beyond the rectangular portions of the star plate wherebymovement is transmitted from the driving shaft to the driven shaft atfirst by means of the entrance of a stud of the plate into one eyelet ofthestar plate, to put it to rotation, then the movement is continued,when the stud leaves the eyelet, by the engagement of the correspond-ting toothed sectors of the plate and the star plate, then 1 a secondstud of the plate enters into a second eyelet of with the plate slidesin contact with one curved section of the star plate comprised betweenthe two eyelets of one pair, until the first stud of the subsequentsector zone enters into the corresponding eyelets of the star plate,putting it to rotation again, the movement of the star plate beingresumed with the engagement of two corresponding toothed sectors, thenthe second stud of said subsequent sector zone of the shaped plateenters into the eyelet of the star plate as soon as the toothed sectorsdisengage, thus obtaining a second rotation by 180 of the star plate,whereafter the other smooth sector of the disc rigid with the plateslides in contact with the other curved section of the star plate,whereby there is obtained a movement of the star plate and, therefore,of the driven shaft, which is constituted by a rotation by 180, a shorthalt, a second rotation by 180 and a longer halt, said movement beingrepeated cyclically by the rotation of the driving shaft, said meansconnecting the intermittently rotating operating means with the carriageincluding a disc fixed on the driven shaft and having a crankpin and aleverage system pivoted on the crankpin and to the carriage.

3. The combination of claim 2, wherein said leverage system includes arod fulcrumed at one end to a fixed support, an oscillating arm pivotedat its ends to the rod and to the carriage and a connecting rod pivotedto the arm intermediate the rod and the carriage and pivoted on thecrankpin.

4. The combination of claim 3, wherein a braking means is provided forstopping the driven shaft in slight advance of the engagement of thesmooth sectors of the disc .with the curved sections of the star plateand includes a pulley fixed on the driven shaft, a lever provided with abrake shoe engageable with the periphery of the pulley, said lever beingpivoted at one endendv having a free end, a cam secured on thedrivingshaft andon which the free end of the lever rides and a springtension means holding the free end in engagement with the cm.

5. A mechanism for automatically controlling the introduction anddischarge of paper piles in atrilaterail cutting machine comprising arectilinearly reciprocating carriage, a continuously rotating drivingshaft, 21' plate circumposed on the driving shaft and having sectorsarranged in circumferentially spaced relation, said sectors having teetharranged along their peripheral portions and having studs outstandinglaterally from the ends of said peripheral portions and means providingsmooth portions arranged between the peripheral portions and disposed onthe same radius therewith, a driven shaft disposed parallel to thedriving shaft, a star wheel havingcircunrferentially'spaced eyeletsfixed on the driven shaft an arranged so that the studs engage in theeyelets to rotate the star wheel and means on the star wheel andgshaftproviding alternating toothed and smooth portions complemental to theteeth on the sectors and the means providing smooth portionsintermediate said sectors whereby an intermittent rotation is impartedto the driven shaft and means connected between the driven shaft-and thecarriage for translating the intermittent rotation of'the driven shaftinto an intermittent reciprocation 'of 'the carriage. l

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE ,cERTIFIcAT OF CORRECTION Patent No. 2,928,284March 15, 1960 Frederick Alfred Walls It is hereby certified that errorappears in the above numbered patent requiring correction and that thesaid Letters Patent should read as corrected below,

In the rant, lines 2 and 12, and in the headin to the printed speciicatlon, line 4, name of assignee, for 'Pivana 81 C. Soc. per A2,", eachoccurrence, read Pivano 81 C. Soc per Az, v 4

Signed and sealed this 25th day of October 1960.

(SEAL) Attest:

KARL H. AXLINE ROBERT c. WATSON Attesting Officer I Commissioner ofPatents

